Animals
These are the many animals associated with magecraft Bear (introspection, stability, wisdom) The strength of the bear lies in its ability to enter into a state of hibernation. In this state it is able to digest the year’s experience. The bear gains wisdom through sleep in dream time. When warmth and sunlight return, the bear emerges strong, stable, and with renewed vitality. Bear is strongly protective of home and family. Bear Associations Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Artemis, Diana, Thor, Cernunnos The bear will teach you great wisdom. He will also teach you the value of stillness and introspection. When you feel the need for stability, call on the bear during meditation. Ask him to bring you wisdom. Buffalo (abundance, prayer, thanksgiving) The buffalo was the major source of food for the Plains Indians. The buffalo provided meat, hide for clothing, and hooves for glue. The buffalo was considered sacred in many traditions because it represented the ideal that when all was in balance there was great abundance. When there was abundance, prayer and thanksgiving were offered in gratitude. Buffalo Associations Direction: North and South Elements: Earth and Fire Deities: Apis, Cernunnos, Jupiter, Thor, Zeus When you feel out of synch with those around you or your environment, ask the buffalo for help. Work with the buffalo during meditation. When you feel the need to pray or give thanks for blessings received, ask the buffalo to help you express your emotions in a proper manner. Dog (friendship, loyalty) Dogs have long been considered man’s best friend. The dog is loyal to a fault, content with the bare necessities of life, and, like the wolf, protective of home and family. For thousands of years, dogs have been honoured for their loyalty. Hermes (Mercury) was frequently accompanied by his faithful dog. Argos, Odysseus’s dog, was the only one to recognize him when he returned from the Trojan War. Dogs have a keen sense of smell, hearing, and sight. It is said they can sense evil and death approaching. Dog Associations Direction: North Elements: Earth Deities: Odin, Lugh, Demeter, Mercury/Hermes, Ishtar Use the dog when you feel the need for support from your friends, or when you feel loyalties are divided. During meditation ask the dog to protect you from the negative thoughts and vibrations others send your way Eagle (spirit, connection to the Divine) The eagle is believed to be the messenger or connection between humans and the divine. The eagle has the ability to live in the realm of the spirit and yet remain connected to the Earth and its inhabitants. The eagle represents the grace that is achieved through hard work. The eagle teaches humans how to have courage and learn from the lows in life as well as the highs. Eagle Associations Direction: East Element: Air Deities: Zeus, Indra, Jupiter, Mithras, Apollo When you need help with spiritual development ask the eagle for help. In meditation merge with the eagle for help with rising above material desires. Ask the eagle to enter your dreams and impart knowledge of about the Ancient Ones. Elephant (wisdom, stability) The elephant has always been revered for its size, intelligence, and devotion to family. The Greek philosopher Aristotle admired the elephant for its great wisdom and intelligence. In Hinduism, the elephant-headed god Ganesha is invoked before any undertaking for his wisdom. Ganesha is said to bring stability and abundance to shop owners. Elephant Associations Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Ganesh, Indra, Siva If you’re having problems making decisions, work with the elephant for wisdom and stability. If you’re considering starting a business or need to attract more customers to your present business, ask the elephant-headed god Ganesha for help. Horse (swift action, power) The horse has long been a symbol of swiftness and power. In ancient mythology, it is the horse that bears the heroes and the gods across the earth, and even across the sky, at great speed. The horse is physical power and unearthly power. In shamanic practices, the horse enables the shaman to fly through the air to reach the heavens or spirit realm. The horse is able to carry great burdens for long distances with ease. Horse Associations Direction: North, East, South, West Element: Earth, Air, Fire, Water Deities: Epona, Helios, Brighid, Apollo, Godiva, Mars, Artemis When you need to respond swiftly to a situation, call on the horse. If you need more personal power, or are overburdened by too much work, ask the horse to give you strength. Owl (clairvoyance, magick, astral projection) The owl has been called the night eagle because of its connection to the world of spirit. The owl hunts at night. The owl can see in the dark and pinpoint prey by sound. Humans may be afraid of the dark, but night is owl’s friend. The owl is silent; you can’t hear it when it flies. The owl has often been associated with the Witch because of its connection to the night. Owl Associations Direction: East Element: Air Deities: Athena, Lilith, Hecate, Bloeuweed, Isis, Minerva During meditation, ask the owl to help you unveil the truth and see things clearly. The owl can also help you learn to interpret omens and intuit dreams. Before doing any kind of divination, ask the owl to be present and help you interpret things correctly. Wolf (power, protection, psychic development) Wolves howl at the moon, they mate openly, and walk silently through the woods. The wolf lives by instinct. The wolf is the pathfinder, the discoverer of new ideas who returns to his family to teach them the ways of the world. The Wolf has keen senses, works with the power of the moon, and is a symbol of psychic energy Wolf Associations Direction: North Element: Earth Deities: Loki, Odin, Diana, Artemis, Brighid, the Morrigan When you are in need of more personal power or psychic energy call on the wolf. The wolf will take you to his private den and teach you how to walk silently and work with the power of the moon to build psychic skills. Cats (independence, secrets) Cats have been associated with the supernatural since ancient times. Cats are associated with either good or bad luck, healing or harm. In folklore, the cat is one of the favoured animal companions of witches, sorcerers and fortune-tellers. Superstitions about cats abound. The cat was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, who associated it with the Moon and Bastet, the goddess of marriage. It also was associated with the Mother Goddess, Isis. In Egyptian art, the goddess Bastet was personified as a cat slaying the Serpent of Darkness. Black cats were associated with darkness and death. According to lore, virtually every sorcerer, witch and Gypsy fortune-teller were supposed to have a cat—and sometimes an owl and a toad as well. During the witch hunts, cats were familiars; they embodied demons who performed the witches’ tasks of maleficia against their neighbours. Elizabeth Francis of Chelmsford, England, convicted as a witch in 1556, said she kept a white spotted cat named Sathan, which, whenever it performed a job for her, demanded a reward of a drop of her blood. Witches were said to be able to assume the shape of a cat nine times, presumably because a cat has nine lives. Black cats were said to be the Devil himself. Throughout medieval Europe, black cats were routinely hunted down and burned, especially on Shrove Tuesday and Easter. A cat accused of being a witch’s familiar usually was killed by being burned alive. Cats were also used in witches’ spells. In the trial of John Fian, Scotland’s most famous witch, in 1590–91, Fian and his coven were accused of trying to drown James VI (James I) and Queen Anne on their voyage to Denmark. The witches allegedly christened a cat, tied it to a dismembered human corpse and threw the bundle into the sea while they recited incantations. A great storm arose and forced the royal ship to return to Scotland, but the king and queen were unharmed. In the lore of the Scottish Highlands, a large breed of wild cats, called Elfin Cats, are said to be witches in disguise. The Elfin Cats are about the size of dogs and are black with a white spot on the breast. They have arched backs and erect bristles—the stereotypical Halloween cat. Though the black cat is associated with witchcraft, it is nevertheless considered good luck to own one in parts of Europe, England and the United States. But having one’s path crossed by a black cat is always bad luck. In other folklore, if a cat jumps over a corpse, the corpse will become a vampire. To prevent this, the cat must be killed. Cats are fertility charms—a cat buried in a field will ensure a bountiful crop. The cat plays a role in Vodun in the southern United States. Cat charms, particularly those made with cats’ whiskers, can bring bad luck, disease and death to the victim. Conversely, in folklore cats have many healing properties. A broth made from a black cat is said to cure consumption. In the 17th century, a whole cat boiled in oil was held to be good for dressing wounds. Illnesses could be transferred to cats, who were then driven from homes. Cats’ eyes are supposed to be able to see ghosts. In western Asia, a stone called the Cat’s Eye—dull red with a white mark—is associated with trouble and evil. In Wicca, the cat is a favoured companion or familiar, valued for its psychic sensitivity and assistance in magic and ritual. The cat is very independent, a mighty hunter, and has many secrets. The cat was worshipped by the Egyptians because of its cunning and ability to purge the house of undesirable elements. Bast, the cat-headed goddess, was considered to be a great protector of women. In ancient Rome, the cat was a symbol of freedom. The cat is known for hiding and being secretive. Cat Associations Direction: North and South Elements: Earth and Fire Deities: Bastet, Brighid, Hathor, Isis, Maat, Osiris, Ra If there is something you need to find out about yourself or others, ask the cat for help during meditation. If you feel overburdened and feel the need for more for independence, invite the cat into your dreams. Cocks Symbols of light and goodness, cocks have been favoured birds of sacrifice to the gods. The cock is sacred and is associated with sun deities; it has the power to banish evil. The cock is a bird of omen, both of luck (in Wales) and death and evil (in Hungary). It is also a symbol of fertility and has been used in divination for centuries around the world. The cock is an embodiment of the corn-spirit, who guards the corn crop until it can be harvested. The last sheaf of corn is variously called the cock-sheaf, cock, harvest-cock, autumn-hen and harvest-hen. Traditionally, a cock is sacrificially killed at the end of harvest, in order to ensure a bountiful crop the following season. According to some customs, the cock is bound up in the cock-sheaf and then run through with a spit. Sometimes it is buried in the fields up to its neck and then beheaded. Or, it is whipped, beaten or stoned to death. It is either cooked, or the flesh is thrown out and the skin and feathers saved to be sprinkled on the new fields in the spring. During the witch hunts, witches were said to sacrifice cocks as an offence to God. The cock represented God, light and goodness, the very things that the Devil’s legions hated. Accused Irish witch Dame Alice Kyteler in the 14th century supposedly sacrificed cocks to her familiar at a crossroads. Witches also were said to sacrifice cocks over their cauldrons as part of their spells to raise rain and storms. The witches’ sabbats allegedly went on all night until cock-crow, at which point the revellers scattered. Montague Summers observed in The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926): That the crowing of a cock dissolves enchantments is a tradition of extremest antiquity. The Jews believed that the clapping of a cock’s wing will make the power of demons ineffectual and break magic spells. . . . The rites of Satan ceased dawn because the Holy Office of the Church began. In the time of S. Benedict Matins and Lauds were recited at dawn and were actually often known as Gallicinium, Cock-crow. Nicholas Rémy, a 16th-century French demonologist and witch prosecutor, said that a witch confessed to him that cocks were hated by all witches and sorcerers. Thecock heralds the dawn, which brings light to the sins of the night and rouses men to the worship of God. Cocks were said to crow at the birth of Christ and at his death. During the Middle Ages, the cock becamean important Christian symbol of vigilance and resurrection, and earned a place at the top of church steeples,domes and buildings. Information Source A Solitary Pagan